


Love is a puzzling thing

by kimchisan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First Love, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 12:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4706720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimchisan/pseuds/kimchisan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noya doesn't understand what he feels when he looks at Yamaguchi. When he does, sweet and awkward things happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is a puzzling thing

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the haikyuu rarepair weekend a while back.  
> Have fun with my first Haikyuu fic.

Nishinoya sat on the bench and looked at the first years that were coming into the gym. He could already tell that Hinata and Kageyama would boost their team like none other. The spring tournament might actually be within reach with those two. Hinata and he already understood each other perfectly. It’s nice to have someone on the team that thinks like you do. Tsukishima on the other hand with his stoic silence and general indifference dumbfounded Noya a bit. Why was this tall dude on the team if he didn’t play with everything he’s got?

He counted the first years and noticed that one was missing then he heard someone call out to Tsukishima “Tsukki! Why didn’t you wait?” At the entrance stood a lanky, brown-haired boy. His name was Yama-something? Noya wasn’t sure. It was the first time he really looked at the other boy. “It’s not my fault you are so slow Yamaguchi.” Yama-something, no, Yamaguchi had freckles. Why this was an important discovery escaped Noya somehow. Then the strangest feeling overcame him. It was like something tugged at his heart. He just wasn’t able to pinpoint what exactly made him feel like that. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten the yakisoba pan for lunch. There was too much onion on it. He absentmindedly stroked his chest and belly. Coach Ukai then made them run around the gym for a while and Noya soon forgot about this strange new feeling he had had.

  
\--------------------

  
The next time the feeling appeared was when Nishinoya saw Yama in a game for the first time. His jump float serve made Noya’s heart go into overdrive. Would he be able to receive that one? A strange excitement grew inside of him. Even though the serve had failed in the actual game Noya saw the potential. Same as everyone else. A day after the game he tried to find Yamaguchi’s class to ask him if they could train together. He rarely walked to the first years’ wing anymore and looked confused from one door to the other. “Nishinoya senpai?” a timid voice from the left asked.

  
It was Yamaguchi.

  
Noya turned towards the voice and grinned. “Ahh, Yamaguchi! Just the person I was looking for!” “You were looking for me senpai?” Noya nodded enthusiastically. “Your serve yesterday was so cool. I know it didn’t work perfectly but just think about when it does!!! I have no experience with this type of serve. Sooo, wanna train together?” Noya felt a bit embarrassed about his not so smooth way of asking for a practice partner. But why was smoothness important now? Yamaguchi looked surprised at first but then a smile formed on his lips. “Yes, well, erm that’s actually what I had wanted to ask you today at volleyball practice! What a coincidence!” They both laugh. “Well, then let’s try it out today!” They were interrupted by the bell and Noya winked at Yama and ran back to his class. What he didn’t know was that Yamaguchi’s face had started to flush furiously, prompting Tsukishima to ask if he had caught the flu when he returned to the classroom.

  
\---------------------------------

  
Yama’s serve was surprisingly hard to receive. Noya tumbled from one end of the court to the other but it seemed like the jump float serve had neither rhyme nor reason behind it. Sometimes Noya got the ball and sometimes he didn’t. A circumstance that vexed him to no end. Not that Yamaguchi had it any better. The success rate of his serve was just about 30% and he started to feel bad for Noya. The libero was sweating so much from all the running around. On one particular day Yama really had trouble hitting it just right and he was about to call it a day early when Noya begged him to stay longer. The others soon left the gym and the pinch setter and libero still gave it their all. When they finally left the gym it was really late and they quickly went to change their clothes.

  
They were silent on their way out, exhaustion had made them sleepy and they slowly trotted down the hill from school. The night air was cool and fresh. When they reached Coach Ukai’s store which was glowing solitarily in the night. Suddenly Yamaguchi got livelier. “Wait here Nishinoya-senpai!” And before he could say something the boy had already vanished inside the store. Leaving Noya outside. While waiting Noya stared at the store, squinting his eyes to make the store sign glow more. When he really tried he could make his breath appear in the cold. Despite the air he felt comfortable. The day hadn’t been what he had wanted to be but this didn’t seem to matter much now. It felt like it was just him and the store in the whole world.

He blinked and suddenly the store doors slid open, revealing Yamaguchi holding a steaming bag. “Here for you!” he said cheerfully and gave Noya a hot bun. They started walking again. Yama walked slowly beside him while munching on his bun. As Noya was smaller, he wasn’t able to take as good a look of that face as he had wanted to. Why did he want to anyway? Realisation hit him when his heart made a huge flip while looking at Yamaguchi eating. Suddenly he understood what that strange feeling had been. The one he always had had when he saw the first year.

  
“Oh” he said.

  
Yama turned to him still biting into his own bun. “Huh? Senpai?” Noya blushed. “Do you have a fever? Did we train too much today? Oh my god! I’m so sorry Nishinoya-senpai! Because of my inability you are feeling down like this.” He bowed profusely before Noya. “Jeez, cut that out. I’m alright! Look! No fever!” It was true the blush had receded a bit but it was still visible. “Well if you say so…” They resumed walking.

  
\--------------------------

  
The next day in class Noya paid next to no attention to class. Not that he did any other day. He was also uncharacteristically silent. “What’s up with you, Noya?” Azumane asked him concerned. “Did something bad happen?” Noya glanced at their surroundings. “Let’s not talk about this here. We’ll talk on the roof.” Azumane looked puzzled but went along with his best friend’s request. “So what happened?” was the first thing out of his mouth when they had reached the roof. They sat down and leaned on the wall. “Weeeeelll…” Azumane looked at Noya expectantly. He had brought his bento box along and started eating. “You know…”Azumane could barely reign in his curiosity when Noya sqeezed his eyes shut and said in a rush.

  
“I think I’ve fallen in love with Yamaguchi!!”

  
He opened his eyes and Azumane exhaled “Oh, that’s all?” Noya looked at him flabbergasted. “What do you mean? That’s all? I’ve never felt like this before! What did you think I wanted to tell you?” “Ummm, I thought you had some kind of incurable illness! I mean you’re usually much more energetic!” “You read too many shoujo manga, Asahi!” Noya shook his head and slid down the wall a bit. He sighed.

Azumane looked contemplatively at the clouds and said: “Sooo Yamaguchi, huh?” “Yeah…” "Do you plan to confess to him?” In an instant Noya jumped up. His face blushing all over. “W-w-why would I do that now??” “Well, isn’t it natural?” “And how should I do that without things being awkward when he obviously has to reject me? It could break the whole dynamic of the team!!!” “You think the team would suffer because of this?” “Yes, totally!” “Hmmm, but despite this you would still like to confess don’t you?” Noya nodded reluctantly.

  
“Well then, why don’t you just write a love letter? Without signing it I mean!” He interjected quickly.” A slackjawed Noya looked at Asahi. “You know… that’s not actually such a bad idea!” Azumane looked proud. “That way you can tell him about your feelings and there is no rejection that could make things awkward later!” Noya barely listened to him anymore. A love letter. He could convey all his feelings into… words…”

Suddenly his face soured. “Asahi…?” “Yeah, Noya?” “What am I gonna do?! Japanese Literature is my worst subject… How am I gonna write a letter that sounds beautiful if I can barely write something for school?” Remember Yamaguchi is in the college prep class! I would feel like a laughing stock even though I didn’t sign it.” Noya turned to Azumane with panic in his eyes. “Erm, well let’s see… You now what? I could help you with it! You write and I correct the mistakes? Not that I’m perfect at this school stuff but a love letter shouldn’t be a problem.” This calmed the young libero down a lot. He exhaled and already tried to think of things to write.

  
\--------------

  
That evening Noya sat at his desk at home and tried to write down what he truly felt. Unfortunately no matter how much, he thought, he was unable to write anything. He’s been sitting there for at least an hour but beyond “Dear Yamaguchi Tadashi” he hasn’t written anything. He pulls at his hair. How can writing be so difficult? When his clock told him it was 3 am he just wrote “I love you a lot.” in big signs on the paper and put the letter in an envelope, addressing it to Yamaguchi. He then fell into bed and slept like a log.

His mother wasn’t happy with him when he finally got up after she had called him countless times. The walk to school felt much quicker than usual. When he reached the school gate his heart beat wildly in his chest. He went to the shoe lockers, exchanged his shoes and then walked towards Yama’s shoe locker. Noya had decided to just put the letter inside the way it was. “I love you a lot” wasn’t the best message but it was as clear cut as he was himself. He wouldn’t need Azumane’s help after all.

When he was on his way to the place where the shoe locker was Noya was surprised when he heard Yamaguchi’s voice. He was talking to Tsukishima. Damn it why are they here now? He shouldn’t have slept for so long. He hid himself as best as he could and waited until they’ve left the area. Noya then walked up to the locker, took out the letter from his bag and opened the small door.

  
“What are you doing?”

  
Noya was convinced his heart had stopped beating for a few seconds. He was frozen. Holding the locker open with one hand and in the other was the letter. Footsteps came closer. No, this couldn’t be happening. “Noya-senpai?” No, please, no. Noya squeezed his eyes shut. Why did his body refuse to listen to him? He had to run away as fast as he could. Noya was startled when a warm hand had encircled his wrist, taking the envelope with Yamaguchi’s name on out of his hand. “A letter for me, senpai? What is it about?” The first year looked puzzled while asking but Noya didn’t hear him.

His heart beat was so loud in his ears he just couldn’t. The blush on his face started to reach his neck. He opened his eyes slowly. Yama was just a few feet away from him. Two warm brown eyes looked at him. A shy smile greeted him but Noya was too focused to notice. This was the end. “May I still read it?” Noya didn’t know what to do. Ripping the letter out of the other’s hands sounded too rude even for him. He gave the other boy a short nod and when Yamaguchi let go of his wrist to open the letter he turned around and speedily ran off. No way could he stand there and see the rejection in those eyes, coming from those lips.

  
\---------

  
In the next break Noya told Azumane what had happened and his friend looked sympathetically at him. “Well, see it like this. Now you won’t have to hide anything. It’s out in the open and you can move on.” “Move on?” Noya started to pace, stopped and slumped down next to his friend. “I only realized the whole thing two days ago! I killed it off before it could become anything!” Noya hid his face in his hands. Azumane patted him on the shoulder and said: “There, there. No use crying over spilt milk. You’ll have to wait and see what happens.” Noya looked at his friend through his fingers. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  
\---------

  
That afternoon would be remembered by the Karasuno volleyball team as one of the strangest training sessions they’ve ever had. Nishinoya, Yamaguchi and even Azumane messed up a lot. It also became apparent that Noya seemed to avoid Yama at every turn which seemed to bother the first year very much. Even a combined scolding by Coach Ukai and Captain Sawamura had no real effect on the whole thing. When they’ve finished the training and cleaned the gym they head towards the changing rooms. Inside, Hinata approached Nishinoya. “Noya-senpai are you ok?” But Noya ignored his kouhai, only mumbling “Not now, Hinata” and all but ran out of the room after he finished dressing. Yamaguchi left equally as fast and tried to follow, leaving behind a room full confused volleyball players.

  
When Nishinoya noticed that he was followed he started to speed up even though his legs were tired from the training. But apparently Yama didn’t get with the ‘Leave-Me-Alone’-program Noya had in mind. “Nishinoya-senpai, please wait!” They were by now far away from school. The sun was about to set and when Noya saw a park entrance he headed right inside. Maybe he could get rid of his pursuer this way? “Nishinoya. Yuu. Senpai.” The tone in the voice made Noya suddenly stop. That sounded very commanding. Even from Yamaguchi “Why do I have to stop?! It’s not like I’ll like what you’re going to say!”

  
He still hadn’t turned around to face Yamaguchi, stubbornly looking at the shrubbery. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say! Please turn around senpai!” Noya sighed loudly and glanced at Yama. Why was the boy’s face so red? They hadn’t run that hard. “The letter was… was…” “Was what? Not to your liking?” “Please don’t put words in my mouth which I don’t mean at all! The letter was short and to the point. A lot like you actually.” Noya blushed. “So my question would be did you really mean what you wrote in the letter? Do you “like” me a lot?” Noya could feel how his own blush spread from his face, over his ears, towards his neck. “Yes, I meant it.” Yamaguchi stepped closer to him. He looked at Noya then away, blushed furiously and stammered: “Yyyou kknow Iii aactually likeyoualottoo!”

  
Noya blinked. “Come again?” The distance between them grew even shorter and the first year took Noya’s hands in his. Someone likes to touch, thought Noya to himself greedily putting the feel of Yamaguchi’s hands into memory. Yama looked straight into his eyes, with blush and everything and said: “I really like you a lot, too!” Noya’s eyes widened. This had to be a dream. “I.. uh.. what?” His mind came to a screeching halt. Yama rubbed circles into the palms of Noya’s hands and smiled at him. And suddenly all heavy worries he had had the whole time fell off him. Yamaguchi thought the same way about him as he did about Yamaguchi.

  
“Sooooo it’s like totally okay for me to do this?” He let go of Yamaguchi’s hands and hugged the boy close. “Of course it’s okay. Yama grabbed Noya’s jacket and pressed their bodies closer. Noya meanwhile hid his nose in the crook of Yamaguchi’s neck and inhaled his scent. He could barely contain his joy. He then leaned back a bit and grinned at Yama. He tugged at Yama’s collar until they were both face to face and then kissed him thoroughly. This was the beginning of something great. Noya just knew it.

 

The End


End file.
